McNerney declares victory over Harmer

STOCKTON — Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, claimed victory after updated ballot totals gave him a 1,681 vote lead over Republican David Harmer.

The Record

STOCKTON — Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, claimed victory after updated ballot totals gave him a 1,681 vote lead over Republican David Harmer.

Harmer said in a statement that there were too many votes left to count. He did not concede.

Among the new numbers released tonight were results from nearly 30,000 vote-by-mail ballots collected in San Joaquin County, where the majority of voters in the 11th Congressional District reside.

Together, tallies from the four counties -- San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa -- gave McNerney 47.75 percent of 231,254 votes cast. Harmer received 47.02 percent of the vote. American Independent Party candidate David Christensen received 5.11 percent.

Harmer took the early lead when polls closed on Nov. 2, but as returns came in through the night, McNerney was up 121 votes.

The lead grew to 2,269 votes by the end of the day Tuesday, as three Bay Area counties gave intermittent updates while going through hundreds of thousands of un-counted absentee ballots.

San Joaquin County did not update its total until this afternoon.

Harmer gained back about 800 votes, but it was not enough to close the gap.

Read Thursday's Record for more on this story from staff writer Zachary K. Johnson.